Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Bayle said on the ros tru m that he had been a little too careful passin g th e backmar kers b ut ad m i tte d, " Da m o n rode rea lly well this even ing." La Ro cco kept third to the fin ish but felt he had more to offer. " I'm sti ll getting used to the change of bik e and I haven 't been able to ride for two weeks because we have sno w bac k home in Indian a," said La Rocco . " I was fightin g the bike all the way and I felt p ret ty unsafe ." La rry Ward cras hed in the second turn, bu t go t back to sixth as Coo per dropped back wi th a fadi ng shock after an earl y cha llenge o n Stanton , while Everts never adva nced from a poor start and J eff War d was hampered by a p ainful sho u lder throu gh out the meetin g. Damon Bradshaw (4) go t the holeshot in from the ou tside in T h ursday's ma in arid went on to score the win. Jean-Michel Bayle clinched the overall win by beating Bradshaw on the final night. Bayle reigns in Paris By Alex Hodgkinson PARIS, FRANCE, NOV. 14-16 ean-Michel Bayle once aga in cap' tured the King of Bercy cro wn for winning the three-day Paris Supercross in the Pal ais Omnisports Bercy. But the 22-year-o ld Fren ch man had a close shave as North Caroli na 's Dam on Bradshaw breezed into town for his o n ly Euro pean supercross of the year an d made the darling of the Par isienne crowd wait unti l the final evening for his only victory of th is year's indoor extravaganza. Bayle couldn't catch the Yamaha J 6 rider o n th e fir st even i n g, wh ile the feverish Friday night main fell to Suzuki's La rry Ward after Bayle and Bradshaw coll ided in their ba ttle for the lead. Brads haw was fo rced to q ua lify through the Las t Chance Qual ifier after cr as h ing in h is hea t o n th e opening nig ht , and the same fate befell Bayle o n Saturday, when neither ma n made any mis take in the main. Needing to head Bradshaw to clinch the overall tit le, Rayle swept majestically past both his rival and H onda team mate Jeff Stanton for a clear-cu t win in •th e final race of the th ree-day festiva l. Stefa n Everts , last year's l25cc cla ss P rin ce o f Bercy winn er, was th e leading European resident each even ing , wi th a treamendous third place beh ind Ward and Bayle on Friday the highlight. T eam Peak / Pro Circuit Honda rider J erem y McGrath and rival Jeff Em ig too k this year 's top 125cc ho nors for Ameri ca, but not before Yves Demaria led GP riders to th e firs t four places o n the opening night. McG ra th , a cras her in th at race, won both of the o ther final s. T hursday Ba yle sta rted hi s ra cing wi th a devastating win in th e first heat after o verta ki ng Guy Cooper a nd Mike La Rocco. Bradshaw couldn 't finish better th an eig h th place after crashing in the first corn er and had to transfer through th e Last Chance Qualifier since on ly the top five in each hea t transferred directly to the main. Englishmen J ames Dobb and Ryan Hunt com p leted the top five. . Larry Ward sig na lled his superb for m of recent weeks by racing from nearl y last in the ot her heat to sna tch a last-la p wi n by racing under runnerup Stan ton and demoting Je ff Ward in the whoops . Mike Kied rowsk i finished fourt h ahea d of Stefan Evert s. Bradshaw topped Yann Gueda rd in the Last Cha nce Qual ifier. For th e main event, Bayle and Stan to n chose inside ga tes, but Bradshaw, with the l l th gate choice, had no o p tio n but to use the outside. Bu t he used it to good effect and grabbed the hol esh ot by blasting around the o u tside wh ile. other rid ers tangled o n the inside. By the end of the first lap, LaRocco, Stanton and Bayle were giving chase to Brad shaw. Bayle was qu ickly past Stanton, but th en too k too long to dispose of La Rocco an d Bradshaw ha d a significant lead . " Rayle made so me tim e when he first got to second, " ad mitted Bradshaw after the race, " bu t then I sped back up and never let him get rea l close. I guess I wo n by about six seconds in the en" " Friday The best race of the three days in the premier class was the Fr iday's final. Bay le and Brad sh a w wo n their respective heat races while LaRocco was forced to transfer th rough th e LCQ, which he won. Learn in g from Brad sh aw 's previous ni gh t's start. Everts took the holesh ot from th e outs ide but the Belgian was q uickly passed by both Bradshaw and Bayle. The Fren chman was determined not to let Brad shaw get away this time and sto rmed past Everts through th e whoops at the end of the first lap. Bayle was soon in the lead but Bradshaw quickly retaliated and th e duo exchanged pos itions several times before th e decis ive moment of the race on the fourt h lap. Bayle tried once aga in to div e inside Bradshaw but there was no room and they both went down. Everts reinherited the lead and kep t it for half the race. " I j ust tri ed to run clean at my own speed and no t ma ke mistakes. bu t Larry Ward made a good move to pass me," said the Belgian l 25cc World Champion. . And that move ga ve the Washington resident his second career win in Bercy. " I started real bad. about eighth. but moved through better tonig ht:' said Larry Ward. " I got Everts at the en d of the tunnel; he went o utside and I cu t across in side him. O nce I was in fr ont I just co ncen tra ted o n no t making a ny mistakes which would have let the rest catch me again and won it by three or four seconds." It was a hectic race. " Bayle got back up first but he waved me past. then passed me back and I repassed h im." said Bradshaw . " We got Stanto n an d th en I was right o n Everts. buthe was going slow in som e sections and fast in others and it kinda screwed me up ." That was the signal for Bayle. even though he was troubled with dirt in his eyes after getti ng back up without goggles. to move clear of his major rival and pass Everts for second on the pen ulti mate la p . He was un able to catch Ward. Brad shaw never did fin d a way past Everts and finished fourth ahead of Stanton . La Rocco, sent to the Last Chance aft er three crashes in his heat . had to watch from sixth ahead of the steady but unspectacular Mike Kiedrowski, while Dobb pushed Jeff Ward down to ninth four la ps from the fini sh as they completed the race less than ha lf a minute down on the winner. Cooper started poorly and went o ut of the race ju st aft er half distance when the fading rear suspension threw h im over the ba rs as he tried to pass Dobb through the j um ps and bumps lead ing up to the finish line. Saturday Despite failing to win either final,

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